James J. O'Donnell, author of Augustine:Sinner and Saint, The Ruin of the Roman Empire, and the forthcoming Pagans, is an academic turned administrator who uses his wide-ranging world travels to inform and inspire his writing

James J. O'Donnell, author of Augustine:Sinner and Saint, The Ruin of the Roman Empire, and the forthcoming Pagans, is an academic turned administrator who uses his wide-ranging world travels to inform and inspire his writing. Educated at Princeton and Yale, long on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, he is now Provost of Georgetown University.

Sure, even in ruins the Roman Empire was a big place. Baffling Paragraphs: O'Donnell's theory of paragraph construction must be interesting

Sure, even in ruins the Roman Empire was a big place. Or slitting their wrists at their desks. Baffling Paragraphs: O'Donnell's theory of paragraph construction must be interesting. I believe he thinks that an occasional short paragraph serves as a sub-heading for the prose, sort of the way 19th century newspapers used to do it. Most of O'Donnell's paragraphs are fairly lengthy, but below are a sampling of his short ones

something about barbarians and the fall of the Roman empire, bu. .

The sub-title blurby thing on the front cover makes the pitch: "The emperor who brought it down, the barbarians who could have saved i. O'Donnell tries to sell this pro-barbarian view of the Decline & Fall as something new. In fact I first encountered it 30 years ago in a wonderful alternate history science fiction novel by L. Sprague DeCamp called "Lest Darkness Falls," which was written in the 1930s. Passive-aggressive Over-familiar Author: "Many modern readers know at least something about barbarians and the fall of the Roman empire, but many more readers will know a fair amount about early Christianity.

Roman empire in the west was made by O’Donnell’s villain of the piece, Justinian, emperor of Constantinople 527–65.

The only serious attempt to restore the former glories of a ‘real’ Roman empire in the west was made by O’Donnell’s villain of the piece, Justinian, emperor of Constantinople 527–65. Taking the view that God was calling him, Justinian set about turfing out the Visigothic, Vandal and Frankish rulers in the west to reimpose ‘proper’ Roman authority over them. What it did was lay the foundations for the idea of Rome, propped up by the papacy as a ‘Holy Roman Empire’ from Charlemagne onwards, a façade finally brought down by Napoleon in 1806. It is here that O’Donnell finds the moral of the story. For him, Odoacer and (especially) Theoderic were realists.

Empire (Main) The Emperor Who Brought It Down, The Barbarians Who Could Have Saved It. By (author) James O'Donnell,James J. O'Donnell. ISBN13: 9781861979704. Imprint: Profile Books Ltd.

Ruin of the Roman Empire (Main) The Emperor Who Brought It Down, The Barbarians Who Could Have Saved It. Publisher: Profile Books Ltd. Format: Paperback, softback. Published: 05/03/2020. Availability: Cancelled.

What brought down the Roman Empire? It’s the preoccupation of classical scholars, and more than a few of today’s political scientists, who .

What brought down the Roman Empire? It’s the preoccupation of classical scholars, and more than a few of today’s political scientists, who see parallels between its rule and Pax Americana. What really brought down the Romans? Reading these three books, one comes away thinking it was a little bit of everything: Corrupt politicians that allowed society to decay to the point that plagues and enemies could wipe it out. Whether as small as a flea or big as a Viking, only vigilance keeps it at bay. But for pure entertainment, stick with Craughwell’s Barbarian Invasions.

ments and so brought itself to ruin. The figure of the emperor Justinian. They represented power. 4 s the ruin of the roman empire. and wealth to the merchant who would become a monk, but Cosmas

ments and so brought itself to ruin. looms over the ruins, a figure mighty for his accomplishments, yet tragic. for the calamities that his reign both saw and spawned. The stories I weave together here will be unfamiliar to most readers. Specialists will disagree with at least some of what I venture and debate it. v. s Preface. and wealth to the merchant who would become a monk, but Cosmas. thought they stood for deeds and words instead. Merchants like Menas. and Cosmas traveled to Adoulis because they knew that sellers brought.

Save up to 80% by choosing the eTextbook option for ISBN: 9781847653963, 1847653960. The Emperor Who Brought It Down, The Barbarians Who Could Have Saved It. By: James J O'Donnell. Publisher: Profile Books. The print version of this textbook is ISBN: 9781861979353, 1861979355. Print ISBN: 9781861979353, 1861979355. eText ISBN: 9781847653963, 1847653960.